THE ISLAND OF CEYLON. 
343 
iii rows, instead of the people employed in barking being 
obliged to creep through intricate and pathless woods in 
search of it. 
There are two different seasons in which cinnamon is 
barked. The greater quantity is prepared during what is 
called the grand harvest, which lasts from April to August. 
The little harvest continues for little more than a month, 
from November to January. The barking is, however, by no 
means restricted to these particular seasons ; I have observed 
bark brought in every month of the year. 
Each particular district where the cinnamon grows is 
bound to furnish yearly a certain quantity of cinnamon pro- 
portioned to the number of the villages and inhabitants 
which it contains. The Cinglese, in return for this service, 
have each a piece of land allotted them rent free. They 
are also exempted from other government services, and en- 
joy other privileges in proportion to the quantity which they 
deliver. 
Those who are employed to bark the trees are called 
schj alias by the Dutch, and by us choliahs . Over them are 
placed officers of a superior class, whose business it is to 
superintend the workmen, to take charge of the woods, 
and to prevent cattle and improper persons from trespassing 
there. Besides these, there is a set of officers of a higher 
cast, called cinnamon moodeliers, whose business it is to 
judge and punish all small offences, and to superintend the 
different districts and villages where the choliahs reside. Over 
